Aftermath Part 2

[Rusty]

Meetings in the Wardroom


Disclaimer: Same as before.


~ ~ ~ ~


At 1800 Colonel Kira�s planned reception in the Wardroom for the new additions to the senior staff commenced. As usual Quark had gone all out, with a generous profit margin expected, with the preparations. Voyager�s senior staff as well as Deep Space Nine�s senior staff were mingling with one another.


Kira looked at the new faces replacing Worf, Odo, and Chief O�Brien. There was Lieutenant Tom Paris, being groomed to be third in command. Then his wife, Lieutenant B�Elanna Torres, the new chief engineer, the enigmatic half Klingon. Glinn Pakar, the Cardassian liaison officer, a diplomatic post assigned to DS9 after the Dominion War, he was being groomed for second in command. However, Lieutenant Diane Schonke, the operations officer, was another likely candidate. Then there was the enigma of a security/tactical officer, Lieutenant Rusty Puckett. Using a habit she learned from Odo, and her own learned diplomatic abilities from the past seven years, Kira observed and mingled among the speaking groups���


~ ~ ~ ~


�So remember that day at the Academy when you set fire to the chemistry lab?� Diane asked.


�That was entirely by accident.� Rusty replied, �I was accident prone in those days.�


�You still are sometimes.� Diane replied, �Remember when���.�


�For the last time, the incident with the Vulcan ambassador was not my doing.� Rusty replied.


�I suppose you purposely dumped about four liters of water over the head of the Vulcan ambassador when we were cadets.� Diane replied, �Sometimes you are the goofiest person I�ve ever known.�

�You wound me fair lady.� Rusty joked, holding his hands to his heart.


�Enjoying your evening?� Kira asked.


�Yes ma�am.� Diane replied, �Lieutenant Diane Schonke.�


�Colonel Kira Nerys, Bajoran militia. Your records from Captain Janeway indicate you have a background in operations as well as command. She seems to think rather highly of you.� Kira began.


�Really ma�am?� Diane asked.


�She once said that you�re on the fast track to command, if you so choose to stay.� Kira said, �That was on your latest fitness evaluation.�


Facing Puckett she said, �Lieutenant, you know each other?�


�Yes ma�am, we were classmates at Starfleet Academy.� Rusty replied.


�I�ll let you two catch up on old times.� Kira said, �Enjoy your evening.�


�Yes ma�am.� Both of them replied.


�It�s amazing isn�t it?� Rusty said, �I never thought I�d ever see you in that uniform. But knowing you, you�ve earned it.�


�What about you. I�d be thinking you�d be going for command of a company by now or be getting screened for battalion executive officer.� Diane replied, referring to Rusty�s choice of occupation with Starfleet ground forces and security.


�He likes her, it�s obvious he likes her.� Ezri said, as she watched the two new lieutenants talk.


�Oh, you mean our new security officer.� Bashir replied, �And our new operations officer.�


�Which, by the way, Julian is my new room mate.� Ezri replied, she and Bashir deciding to take the relationship slow by not moving in together just yet. So Ezri now shared quarters with Diane Schonke.


�How can you tell?� Julian asked.


�Do you see how Lieutenant Puckett rarely smiles unless he�s around her?� Ezri replied.


�Actually he does have a sense of humor, a grim cynical one, but it�s there.� Bashir replied.


�He obviously has some past issues.� Ezri replied.


~ ~ ~ ~


B�Elanna snagged Diane as she walked to the serving table to help herself to another drink. �How long have you known Puckett?� B�Elanna asked.


�Since we were at the Academy.� Diane replied, �He was one of my closest friends there. And the only one so far that�s even talked to me since I�ve been back in the Alpha Quadrant.�


�So are you sure it�s not too imposing that you babysit Miral tomorrow night? Tom and I can always change our plans.� B�Elanna replied.


�No not at all.� Diane replied, �Who�s watching her tonight?�


�Commander Chakotay.� B�Elanna replied.


�Did you guys ever date at the Academy?� Tom asked Diane.

B�Elanna elbowed her husband lightly, for a half-Klingon, and Tom gasped. �No, we never did, but we were really good friends.� Diane replied.


~ ~ ~ ~


Rusty watched Diane as she talked to Paris and Torres. He smiled to himself and suddenly felt self conscious. Seven years had passed since they�d last seen each other, and he was starting to feel old feelings reawaken again.


�What is it about this woman?� he muttered to himself.


�You knew each other for a long time.� A voice sounded. Rusty spun around and saw a slight, slim Trill woman about five centimeters shorter than him standing there.


�Counselor Dax? Right?� Rusty said.


�Right. You must be Rusty Puckett?� Ezri said, �I�m sorry, I just overheard you speak and����


�It�s alright.� Rusty said, �Funny, no matter how badly my heart was broken, I still have feelings����


�She really must be special to you.� Ezri said.


�Special enough to cause me to nearly fail Warp Field Mechanics my sophomore year at the Academy because I was moping over the fact that she had a boyfriend already.� Rusty replied, �Let�s just say I spent a lot of time on the punching bags to vent out my grief.�


�Coach Spitz still has that punching bag you accidentally tore apart your sophomore year.� Ezri replied.


�He told you about that.� Diane said, entering the conversation. Lightly punching Rusty on the arm she said, �He�s a fairly well known character in our class.�


�Apparently.� Ezri replied, �Coach Spitz still teaches self defense at the Academy.�


�Oh dear God.� Rusty replied, �Four years at the Academy and another seven with Starfleet Security/Special Forces and I still can�t beat that man in hand to hand.�


�Oh yeah, last subspace transmission when we on Voyager, you told me about how Coach threw you on your back so hard you were seeing stars.� Diane replied.


�Maybe I�m getting soft in my old age.� Rusty replied.


�Rusty, you�re thirty years old!� Diane protested.


�Yeah, and I�ve got more shoulder problems than Chief O�Brien.� Rusty replied, with a toothy grin.


�I�m surprised you still have teeth.� Diane joked, �After you got hit so many times in boxing.�


�Hey, you weren�t the one challenged to a fight by Mackenzie Calhoun.� Rusty replied, �On my family honor I couldn�t turn it down.�


�You boxed Mackenzie Calhoun?� Ezri said, �So you�re the famous Cadet Counterpunch.�


�He was a guest instructor for our hand to hand combat class our sophomore year, and he asked if anyone would be interested in sparring him for six rounds of three minutes in Earth boxing. Rusty�s hand was the first one up.� Diane replied.


�You volunteered to have a former Xenexian freedom fighter beat you senseless?� Ezri asked, incredulously.


Rusty rolled his eyes and said, �I was twenty years old back then, I didn�t know any better.�


�I distinctly remember hearing the melody to quite a few funeral dirges heard when you went into the ring.� Diane replied, �Rusty had a concussion for days afterward, but Calhoun came out of there with bruised ribs and a sore stomach. When they shook hands after the match, Rusty couldn�t walk in a straight line.�


�I wasn�t that bad!� Rusty protested.


�Bull.� Diane replied, �I remember leading you by the right arm all the way to Sickbay and you insisting, �Let go of me, I can walk!� all the way over there.�


�You�re about the only person who remembers that incident.� Rusty observed.


�No, I remember about half our old study group remembers you walking into my room with an ice pack over your right eye.� Diane countered, �And you almost got our debate team into some serious trouble.�


�How?� Rusty replied, defensively, �Oh no! The Crusader Catastrophe was NOT my fault! Don�t blame the entire thing on me.�


�Oh really.� Diane replied, �Who�s idea was it to construct a holosuite program for our History of Conflict class?�


�You said it was a great idea.� Rusty protested.


�Yeah, that was before you gave half the class a heart attack with that swarm of onrushing Muslim marauders that appeared at the start of the program!� Diane replied, �And then the one hundred armored charging knights that almost trampled the class.�


�OK, so I went slightly overboard with writing the program. We still got an A.� Rusty replied.


�That was because you almost gave old Professor Simmons a serious heart attack.� Diane replied, �And then there was that belly dancer in Saladin�s court that looked suspiciously like me.�


�That was Vasquez�s idea of a joke!� Rusty replied, �That part can�t be blamed on me.�


�I know you didn�t make that part of the program, but I�d rather blame you right now. After all I am heaping the blame for the Crusader Catastrophe solely on you.� Diane replied, �Though it was fun to see your jaw drop open when you saw it. And the most conservative professor on campus nearly fainted when he saw it.�


�I damn near fainted when I saw that dancer.� Rusty thought, then said, �Still, Vasquez was the moron that put the belly dancer in. Though I got him back when he decided to make a copy of the program for his own use.�


�Really, pray tell.� Diane replied.


�I removed your face and put the balding Professor Simmons� head atop the body.� Rusty replied, grinning.


�Rusty.� Diane laughed, �I always knew you�d pull something like that. Are you still on that coffee addiction?�


�No, remember our sophomore year I gave it up as a New Year�s resolution.� Rusty replied.


�I never thought you�d carry it through, honestly. I remember you practically had a coffee cup surgically attached to your right hand at all times.� Diane replied.


�You inspired me to do it. I distinctly remember at Catholic services on Sundays you�d say that I never needed coffee.� Rusty replied.


�To which you replied, I do so need it.� Diane replied.


�What can I say, I purr like a kitten to the wiles of a beautiful woman.� Rusty said. �Oh God did I just say that aloud.�


�Oh God did he just say that aloud?� Diane thought, and then blushed as she replied, �Rusty, you always did have a way with words.�


�I did graduate with a degree in Galactic Literature from the Academy.� Rusty replied.


�You took a bunch of courses more suitable to Diplomatic Corps officers and chose Security as your main service. I just find that ironic.� Diane laughed.


~ ~ ~ ~


Glinn Pakar hung back, watching the two old friends interact. They were members of his new unit, even though they weren�t members of the 20th Order. It was the most diverse unit he�d served with, to be sure. Humans. Trill. Bajorans. And other races. Nothing in nearly two decades of service for Cardassia prepared him for this.


He remembered Lieutenant Puckett as the team leader of an eight man Starfleet Special Forces team that destroyed a ketracel white facility in the Benzar sector, forcing the Jem�Hadar offensive into the neighboring system to be delayed indefinitely because of rationing of their drug. The Vorta field supervisors and Jem�Hadar Firsts were having a bad enough time trying to keep their troops under control in normal garrison duty. They�d be a liability in an offensive action.


Three of the Starfleet raiders were killed and five, including Puckett, were captured. Before the death or capture of the eight man raiding unit, approximately 276 Cardassian and Jem�Hadar soldiers were killed and another 300 seriously wounded, including Pakar�s eldest son.


Pakar was a man with a large family, a wife, six children, his elderly parents and grandfather. His two oldest sons were killed in the Dominion War. His wife killed herself after her youngest son had been killed by the Klingons two months later. His four daughters, and his aged parents had died in their home in Lakarian City when the Dominion destroyed it. His grandfather died of a broken heart, to see an entire generation of his family gone.


When he had interrogated Puckett, he had personal reasons for wanting to break the man. But Puckett was strong, he resisted and in fact was one of a handful of Starfleet POWs to have escaped Dominion custody. But the new piece of interrogation technology, the memory extraction unit, left its marks.


What it was designed to do was to first sedate a prisoner and then using his memories, create a situation that would break down his defenses. In Rusty�s case it had involved the woman he was speaking to.


~ ~ ~ ~


After the social gathering in the wardroom Rusty had gone to bed. Two hours later he woke with a cold sweat. Memories of Benzar came unbidden to his mind. Memories when he was a prisoner for six weeks before he escaped and the Benzite Resistance smuggled him back to Federation territory.


�Calm down, it was just a false memory.� Puckett said to himself, thinking �But that doesn�t make it any less real.�


�It wasn�t Diane you saw being tortured and executed before your eyes.� Rusty said. Indeed the memory felt so real, even if it wasn�t true. The experimental Cardassian memory extraction unit was not only effective in taking memories from a prisoner, it also helped to break a prisoner�s resistance by implanting memories, false and tragic memories.


Rusty realized that sleep wasn�t going to be any benefit to him right now. Trying to do it wouldn�t work. Seeing Diane again was a bittersweet thing. But as he slept he saw her being kicked and beaten by two Cardassian guards. Then he watched, helpless behind a force field as they ravaged her and finally a Jem�Hadar guard put her out of her misery.


�Quit being a damned coward, Puckett.� Rusty said to himself, �The memory isn�t real. Diane lives on the same level and a third of the habitat ring away.�


�But that doesn�t make the dreams go away. Or the very real fear you have of losing Diane again, and for real this time.� Puckett thought, �If our resident Cardie shows any sign of being treacherous, I�ll kill the bastard myself.�


With that realization, Rusty Puckett went back to his bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.


~ ~ ~ ~

TBC

[Voy_Girl]

Nice, but you don't have to make a new topic for each chapter.